The Kitchen Gardenerhttp://thekitchengardener.com
edible landscaping: eat well from your own backyardFri, 15 Sep 2017 20:36:05 +0000en-UShourly1https://wordpress.org/?v=4.9.1A gardener’s recipehttp://thekitchengardener.com/?p=945
http://thekitchengardener.com/?p=945#respondMon, 09 May 2016 21:00:11 +0000http://thekitchengardener.com/?p=945SooYoung, of the 57-Dorchester community garden, and her nephew made brilliant use of microgreens in the garden.

]]>http://thekitchengardener.com/?feed=rss2&p=9340Passover parsnipshttp://thekitchengardener.com/?p=931
http://thekitchengardener.com/?p=931#respondWed, 20 Apr 2016 13:02:18 +0000http://thekitchengardener.com/?p=931Continue reading →]]>Yesterday I harvested parsnips to roast and serve for my Passover seder. These parsnips I seeded exactly one year ago and overwintered in a bed of leaf mulch. The winter intensifies and carmelizes the sweetness and flavor of the parsnips.

That’s what happened. After days of rain, snow flurries and then snow covering all those baby seedlings. Turns out the bed of snow actually saved the seedlings and seeds by insulating them from the 20 degree weather and a killing frost next day.

Here’s the microgreens thriving and the same spinach pictured last week. And, despite the weather, now the peas are up.

Seed packets always say to plant after the danger of the final frost. But when is that exactly?

Despite the snow flurries and cold, frosty mornings, the ground is sufficiently warm, and the seeds adequately prepared to germinate and sprout. This is the earliest I’ve planted early spring vegetables. So this cold weather is making it a tad nerve-wracking. All, however, seems to be doing just fine: the microgreens, pak choi, spinach, romaine and kale are up and growing; and the peas and lettuces are staying warm below ground for the time being. In another month, we can be confident as the gardens flourish.

]]>http://thekitchengardener.com/?feed=rss2&p=9220First sightingshttp://thekitchengardener.com/?p=917
http://thekitchengardener.com/?p=917#respondTue, 29 Mar 2016 21:20:08 +0000http://thekitchengardener.com/?p=917Continue reading →]]>Last week I planted earlier than I usually do. And, of course, it rained and then snowed a few days later. Today as I made garden rounds, I spotted the first tiny sprouts having germinated from last week’s seed plantings. Phew! Delightful!

Rhubarb, a perennial, sprouts early in the spring. Don’t you want a new spring frock of the same intense colors?

Last year, spring was five to six weeks slow. Spring 2016 seems to be coming more quickly than last.

As you may recall from earlier posts, I plant by soil temperature, not length of day. This spring the soil is already warm enough for planting.

So I planted this week. I put in seeds for all the early spring vegetables: lettuces in abundance, spinach, French arugula, microgreens galore, kale, Swiss chard, pac choi, radishes, peas.

As I pull back the blanket of leaf mulch from herbs and other perennials, I am finding nubby spring sprouts everywhere. Here is the first asparagus. Since this is the third year for my asparagus plants, it will be the first year for eating these delicacies.

I also harvested brussel sprouts which I overwintered. Somehow the cold enriches and intensifies the flavors. Most of them made it through the winter without rotting or dying. I learned too that the best sprouts come from survivors who were more deeply buried in leaf mulch.

I also wintered over a crop of parsnips that are now pushing up new green plumage. I will harvest these when the plants are fully leafed out, perhaps for Passover next month. For parsnips too, winter concentrates the flavors of an already flavorful parsnip.

Happy Spring!

]]>http://thekitchengardener.com/?feed=rss2&p=9120New beginnings once againhttp://thekitchengardener.com/?p=907
http://thekitchengardener.com/?p=907#respondThu, 10 Mar 2016 21:29:02 +0000http://thekitchengardener.com/?p=907Continue reading →]]>“For gardeners, this is the season of lists and callow hopefulness; hundreds of thousands of bewitched readers are poring over their catalogues, making lists for their seed and plant orders, dreaming their dreams.” – Katharine White, Onward & Upward in the Garden (1979)

And so I too have been dreaming all winter. Ordering seeds and seedlings. Drawing garden plots and planning what to plant. Now I’m meeting with exuberant customers to hear what they want to grow and eat this coming season. Even though spring doesn’t officially arrive for another few days, there’s a wonderful, hopeful spring-quality to the air and the soil.

]]>http://thekitchengardener.com/?feed=rss2&p=9070Bounteous harvesthttp://thekitchengardener.com/?p=900
http://thekitchengardener.com/?p=900#respondSat, 19 Sep 2015 06:23:48 +0000http://thekitchengardener.com/?p=900Continue reading →]]>This long, lingering Indian Summer — or whatever the weather is doing with several weeks of hot, sunny days — is bringing in a huge crop of warm weather vegetables. Great, flavorful tomatoes. Great peppers of all shapes and colors. Prolific eggplant. What a treat!

I must admit I was worried we’d see none of these fruit vegetables this year. The long, long cool spring with nights under 60 degrees into July portended a poor tomato crop. So glad to say, “Not so this year.”